When Ray Charles is concentrating he's like a piece of granite, nothing twitches, nothing, ... He sat for 25 minutes solid like that, like a stone, and I thought, 'Oh my God, if he doesn't like it I'm dead.' ... And then finally, after 25 minutes he started to talk back to the screen. I heard him say 'That's right. That's the truth.' .

If people are worried about the size of their trailers, I kind of say their priorities are off.

The whole concept of the devil is a metaphor on one level.

It's much easier to work with an unknown.

As a filmmaker, "no" is not in my vocabulary. I've got to figure out a way.

Well I don't think I've scored my life exclusively to Ray Charles.

I make films about working class people.